County strikes deal with feds over medical marijuana records

Mendocino County officials have struck an agreement with the federal government to release records the county keeps under its medical marijuana ordinance, but will not release the names of the people who applied for permits under the ordinance.

The board announced it had reached the agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office Tuesday after meeting for less than half an hour behind closed doors.

A federal grand jury had subpoenaed the records October 23, asking for "any and all records"?including financial records?for the county's medical marijuana cultivation ordinance from January 1, 2010, to the present. "The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors and the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California have reached an agreement on the nature and scope of documents to be provided to the federal grand jury, pursuant to the subpoenas of October 23, 2012," according to the statement County Counsel Tom Parker issued after Tuesday's meeting. "The information to be provided will not include personal identifying information involving individuals. This consensus is reflective of the law enforcement needs of the United States Attorney's Office, as well as reflecting the public policy goals of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors," according to the statement.Under the ordinance, codified as Chapter 9.31 of the Mendocino County Code?developed originally in 2008--medical marijuana collectives were once able to get permits to grow up to 99 plants from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, an exemption from the county's limit of 25 plants per parcel.

The program started in June 2010 and ended in March 2012 after the U.S. Attorney's Office threatened legal action against the permitting program and county officials. Copies of the federal subpoena were delivered to Auditor-Controller Meredith Ford, Sheriff Tom Allman, Sheriff's Office Financial Manager Norman Thurston, Sheriff's Capt. Randy Johnson?who oversaw the county's medical marijuana garden inspection program?and the "custodian of records."

The subpoenas also asked for all types of communication regarding 9.31, including with third-party medical marijuana garden inspectors and the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors. The medical marijuana industry urged the county to fight the subpoenas and protect the information.

The county announced December 11 it had hired San Francisco attorney William Osterhaudt to help represent the county regarding the subpoenas, and announced the week before Christmas it had filed a motion to quash the subpoenas on the grounds they are "overbroad and burdensome" in scope, and are an "improper intrusion" on the county's and the state's ability to govern its citizens.

Parker also announced Tuesday that a hearing on the county's motion scheduled for April 16 would be canceled "in light of this consensus."

The hearing had been rescheduled four times since January. The county had originally been scheduled to go to court January 4 for a hearing on the motion. Both sides agreed to reschedule the hearing to January 29, then until February 19, then until March 19.

The hearing was rescheduled indefinitely in March, when the federal court took the hearing off of its calendar until the county or the U.S. Attorney's Office requested a specific date.

In the meantime, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors in January updated 9.31 to say the records are confidential.